The Red Dot

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Red Dot
Series = Seinfeld


Caption = Elaine tries on the sweater with the red dot.
Season = 3
Episode = 29
Airdate = December 11, 1991
Production =
Writer = Larry David
Director = Tom Cherones
Guests =
Episode list = List of "Seinfeld" episodes
Season list = Infobox Seinfeld season 3 episode list
Prev =
Next =

"The Red Dot" is the twenty-ninth episode of the sitcom "Seinfeld". The episode was the twelfth episode for the show's third season. It aired on December 11, 1991.

Plot

Elaine gets George a job at a publishing company; to repay her, he buys her an ostensibly expensive, cashmere sweater, that has a minor flaw, for which it was marked down considerably (the flaw is visible to the characters but not to the camera). Elaine spots it and becomes furious at George and immediately returns the cashmere sweater to him. Jerry inadvertently reintroduces Elaine's boyfriend, Dick, a recovering alcoholic, to liquor. This causes Dick to return to his alcoholism thus losing his job at the same publishing company where George and Elaine work.

Later, a drunk Dick heckles Jerry during one of his stand up comedy acts. While George was working at his new job, he becomes sexually attracted to a cleaning lady (George later explains to Jerry that he is fond of cleaning women) and has sex with her after they both drink Hennigan's Scotch, which is a recurring theme in the episode.

The next day, the cleaning lady gets upset over what happened the previous night and threatens to report what happened to the boss of the company. George tries to compensate with her by offering the flawed cashmere sweater. The cleaning lady is extremely overjoyed by the gift but unfortunately for George, she identifies the red spot and thus George gets fired (Jason Alexander has said that he considers the scene in which George reacts to this situation as the defining moment for the George character).

As George was packing his things from the office, he is met by Elaine and Jerry. After they get into an argument, they suddenly hear Dick rampaging through the office hallway, drunk, coming to gain his revenge on Jerry for losing his job. The threesome quickly hide under George's desk and wait as the drunkard approaches them. Just then, George offers the cashmere sweater to Dick, this manages to calm down Dick's rage until he sees the spot.

The episode ends when the viewers see Jerry doing his usual last part of his stand up comedy act before the end of the episode. Dick is among the audience, happy, sober, and with a non-alcoholic drink in his hand. Jerry and Dick are seen getting along, apparently putting their feud behind them although the episode does not explain how this happened.

Memorable quotes

"Jerry" "to Kramer": "Would you do me a favor?"
"Kramer": "Okay"
"Jerry": "Would you take a drink and let us [he and Elaine] smell you?"
"Kramer": "You can smell me without the drink."

"Kramer" "doing Hennigan's Scotch ad ideas": "Say you got a big job interview, and you're a little nervous. Well, throw back a couple of shots of Hennigan's and you'll be as loose as a goose and ready to roll in no time. And because it's odorless, why, it'll be our little secret. That's Hennigan's, no smell, no tell brand scotch. [winks] "In style of Irish jig music": "H-E-double N-I..."

"Mr. Lippman": "It's come to my attention that you and the cleaning woman have engaged in sexual intercourse on the desk in your office. Is that correct?"
"George": "Who said that?"
"Mr. Lippman": "She did."
"George": [pause] "Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing, because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing is frowned upon... you know, cause I've worked in a lot of offices, and I tell you, people do that all the time."